Polarization sensitive optical coherence tomography.

• Main Author: Lua, Wei Pei.
• Other Authors: Lee Kijoon
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2012
• Subjects: DRNTU::Science::Medicine::Optical instruments
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/50257
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

This paper reviews the principles and applications of optical coherence tomography (OCT), an optical imaging technique based on the correlation and interference between light backscattered from tissue and a reference light. It is an emerging, non-invasive imaging modality capable of producing micro-structural cross-sections of inhomogeneous samples (e.g. biological tissues). The basic theories of Fourier Domain OCT (FD-OCT) and Polarization Sensitive OCT (PS-OCT) were discussed. The main difference between these two techniques is the latter’s ability to account for birefringence, a characteristics displayed by anisotropic materials, such as biological tissues. The FD-OCT setup was used to visualize microstructure of samples and produce 3D scans. The PS-OCT setup, with the enhancement by linear polarizer, polarizing beam splitter (PBS) and quarter wave plates (QWP), produced images with enhanced contrast and specificity, by detecting polarization states of light reflected from bio-samples. This paper demonstrated successful FD-OCT images (2D and 3D) obtained from in vitro scanning of pig tendon and onion peel and also PS-OCT images obtained from in vitro scanning of chicken muscle. Images obtained from PS-OCT quantified biological properties of birefringence more comprehensively. Varied heat treatments were performed on the chicken muscle to investigate the effect of heat on birefringence, and qualitative and quantitative analyses were drawn. Employment of the PS-OCT setup demonstrated how visually undetected changes and destructions in the microstructures of tissues could be detected by PS-OCT, proving its potential in future research works and applications.